Malcolm X Assignment

Malcolm X Assignment

Malcolm X had been a very important figure in American history and had a huge impact on

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In April of 1964, Malcolm X made a pilgrimage to Mecca which led to his second conversion. He met brothers of the faith who were from many nations and of many races, black, brown, white, and all the sons of Allah. The reality dawned on him that advocating racial cooperation and brotherhood would help resolve the racial problems in America and, hopefully, lead to a peaceful coexistence throughout the world. Malcolm X's transformed ideas and dreams reached full fruition and were ready for both national and international implementation. Again he changed his name, this time to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. And again he found himself going against the system. But this time he would not be alone in the fight for equality and justice.

"We have to keep in mind at all times that we are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as free humans in this society"-Malcolm X

In 1964, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he announced his conversion to orthodox Islam and his new belief that there could be brotherhood between black and white. In his Organization of Afro-American Unity, formed after his return, the tone was still that of militant black nationalism but no longer of separation.

In 1946, while in prison for burglary, he was converted to the Black Muslim faith ( Nation of Islam); this sect professed the superiority of black people and the inherent evil of whites. Released from prison in 1952, Malcolm went to Nation of Islam headquarters in Chicago, met the sect's leader, Elijah Muhammad, and embraced its rigorous asceticism. He changed his last name to "X," a custom among Nation of Islam followers who considered their family names to have originated with white slaveholders.

Malcolm X was sent on speaking tours around the country and soon became the most effective speaker and organizer for the Nation of Islam. He founded many new mosques and greatly increased the movement's membership. In 1961 he founded Muhammad Speaks, the official publication of the movement. He was eventually assigned to be minister of the important Mosque Number Seven in New York City's Harlem area.

Speaking with bitter eloquence against the white exploitation of black people, Malcolm developed a brilliant platform style, which soon won him a large and dedicated following. He derided the civil-rights movement and rejected both integration and racial equality, calling instead for black separatism, black pride, and black self-dependence. Because he advocated the use of violence (for self-protection) and appeared to many to be a fanatic, his leadership was rejected by most civil-rights leaders, who emphasized nonviolent resistance to racial injustice.

Malcolm X described the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Nov. 22, 1963) as a "case of chickens coming home to roost"--an instance of the kind of violence that whites had long used against blacks. Malcolm's success had by this time aroused jealousy within the Black Muslim hierarchy, and, in response to his comments on the Kennedy assassination, Elijah Muhammad suspended Malcolm from the movement. In March 1964 Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and announced the formation of his own religious organization. As a result of a pilgrimage he took to Mecca in April 1964, he modified his views of black separatism, declaring that he no longer believed whites to be innately evil and acknowledging his vision of the possibility of world brotherhood. In October 1964 he reaffirmed his conversion to orthodox Islam.

Growing hostility between Malcolm's followers and the rival Black Muslims manifested itself in violence and threats against his life. He was shot to death at a rally of his followers at a Harlem ballroom. Three Black Muslims were convicted of the murder.

Nation of Islam

In 1952, after his release from prison, Malcolm went to meet Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. It is here that he received the iconic "X".

In 1953, Malcolm left his half-sister Ella in Boston to stay with Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. He soon returned to Boston and became the Minister of the Nation of Islam's Temple Number Eleven.

His active membership in the Nation led to him opening several temples around the country, of which he often became Minister.